December 2013 Investing in locally controlled forestry in Mozambique Potential for promoting sustainable rural development in the province of Niassa Author information This report was written by: Isilda Nhantumbo, IIED Duncan Macqueen, IIED Regina Cruz, IUCN Antonio Serra, Rural Consult About the project For more information, visit: http://www.iied.org/supporting- locally-controlled-forest-enterprises, or contact: Duncan Macqueen, [email protected], or Isilda Nhantumbo, [email protected] IIED is a policy and action research organisation. We promote sustainable development to improve livelihoods and protect the environments on which these livelihoods are built. We specialise in linking local priorities to global challenges. IIED is based in London and works in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and the Pacific, with some of the world’s most vulnerable people. We work with them to strengthen their voice in the decision-making arenas that affect them — from village councils to international conventions. Published by IIED, December 2013 http://pubs.iied.org/13569IIED International Institute for Environment and Development 80-86 Gray’s Inn Road, London WC1X 8NH, UK Tel: +44 (0)20 3463 7399 Fax: +44 (0)20 3514 9055 email: [email protected] www.iied.org @iied www.facebook.com/theIIED Download more publications at www.iied.org/pubs INVESTING IN LOCALLY CONTROLLED FORESTRY IN MOZAMBIQUE, DECEMBER 2013 Contents Executive summary 2 Acknowledgements 8 Acronyms 9 1. Introduction to origins and methodology of this assessment 10 1.1 Origins of this assessment 10 1.2 Objectives of this assessment 10 1.3 An assessment framework based on Investing in Locally Controlled Forestry 11 1.4 What this assessment could and could not do 13 1.5 Additional specific areas of attention 13 1.6 Assessment methodology 14 2. Background context and trends 15 2.1 Global trends as they relate to Mozambique 15 2.2 Introduction to the Mozambique province of Niassa 16 2.3 Policies and institutions governing potential investment opportunities 19 3. Swedish Government support to Niassa Province 24 3.1 SIDA country strategy and complementary ORGUT assessment 24 3.2 Current programmatic activities – and recent review findings 25 4. Assessment framework for ILCF options in Niassa 26 4.1 Natural forest options for ILCF in Niassa 26 4.2 Plantation forest options for ILCF in Niassa 42 4.3 Agroforestry options for ILCF in Niassa 56 5. Analysis of investment options 62 5.1 Options for innovation in long term support for ILCF in Niassa 62 5.2 Key opportunities and challenges to install the pillars or pre-requisites for ILCF in Niassa 64 5.3 Necessary institutional partnerships 69 6. Recommendations for the Swedish Embassy 72 6.1 Relevant findings 72 6.2 Strategic recommendations 74 6.3 Ideas with possible generic application 76 References 78 Annex 1 - Lists of stakeholders interviewed 81 Annex 2. Terms of reference 87 www.iied.org INVESTING IN LOCALLY CONTROLLED FORESTRY IN MOZAMBIQUE, DECEMBER 2013 Executive summary This report summarises a strategic assessment of the potential of different options for investing in locally controlled forestry (ILCF), with a strong focus on local enterprise development. It looks in particular at the Province of Niassa in Mozambique. This assessment has its origins in mutual engagement by both SIDA and IIED in a dialogue process on ILCF. The process brought together more than 400 investors, local right-holders and forest experts from across eleven different locations, to advance understanding on ILCF. IIED’s long-standing support to the forest sector in Mozambique provided an opportunity to explore what options for ILCF existed in Mozambique, in part to inform Sweden’s new country strategy for Mozambique. ILCF is an innovative approach to investment. It involves a paradigm shift away from ‘capital seeking natural resources and needing cheap local labour’ towards ‘local rights-holders managing natural resources and needing capital.’ Four necessary pillars or pre-requisites for successful ILCF have been distilled from the dialogue process described above: secure commercial resource rights; enhanced business capacity; strong enterprise-oriented organisation; and availability of fair investment, technology and service provision. We use these four pillars or pre-requisites as criteria to screen possible investment options. We also make a subjective assessment of anticipated economic, social and environmental – triple bottom line – impacts of different options, with additional focus on gender and governance. The aim of this assessment is to prioritise potential investment options for SIDA, which not only have positive outcomes against that triple bottom line but also strengthen prospects for increasing local control over those outcomes. The ILCF approach is not about focusing on one or more of the four pillars, as each are equally and concurrently important. It is rather about screening options on their contribution across the four pillars and then discarding those with detrimental impacts, opting for those with the highest potential against all four. In this way, SIDA might choose to invest in one particular subsector option and try and make it work; confident that it has been screened and is among the best options in helping to advance locally controlled forestry across all four pillars. The assessment was made through a field mission to Mozambique, including Niassa, followed by a validation exercise, based on the presentation of a draft of this report in Maputo and Lichinga, Niassa. A four-person assessment team included two IIED staff, one from IUCN and one from Rural Consult. Participants in the two validation meetings in Maputo and Lichinga endorsed the assessment framework and approach used to collate and review information. The Mozambican context for sustainable rural development faces a number of challenges that are shared globally: population growth and increasing and changing consumption patterns; investments in natural resources – particularly extractive industries – that respond to that growing demand and quest for rapid economic growth; conflicts between the interests of local and distant consumers; and increasing greenhouse gas emissions that threaten the functioning of contested natural ecosystems. ILCF is a deliberate response to such challenges. It pursues justice, such that local people’s needs are given due regard in the ownership and use of natural resources. And it pursues sustainability, in that it ensures local people have strong incentives – including financial incentives and access to technology to add value – to manage natural resources sustainably and for multiple objectives. The province of Niassa is Mozambique’s least densely populated and resource rich, with forests, fertile soils, water and minerals – but also one of its poorest. There is space to explore how commercial but sustainable use of natural resources could enhance livelihoods and protect the environment. This assessment looks at ILCF investment options in three major land use types: natural www.iied.org INVESTING IN LOCALLY CONTROLLED FORESTRY IN MOZAMBIQUE, DECEMBER 2013 forests, plantations, and agroforestry. Each with a number of subdivisions that fit current legislative definitions. Swedish engagement in Mozambique generally, and in Niassa in particular, has been long-term and substantial. It has involved support to a range of programmes that have targeted (i) poverty reduction through budgetary support, strengthened democratic development, increased gender equality and respect for human rights; (ii) promoting sustainable growth through increased productivity and rational use of natural resources; and (iii) research in support of the above. In practice, this has also involved field-level programmes in Niassa, such as the Malonda Foundation, covering investment promotion, enabling environment, financial and business services and community relations. It has also involved support to develop and strengthen the capacity of civil society through long-term support to the work of the Swedish Cooperative Centre (SCC, now Weeffect) and the prospective support of ARENA, covering land rights and natural resource management; farmer associations for local economic development; diversification and market access; and access to information. The latter programme especially has strong complementarity with the ILCF approach. The field mission led to the development of a case typology of possible investment options. Each of these was screened against four criteria relating to the prospects for strengthening locally controlled forestry and three further criteria relating to their anticipated impacts on livelihoods. For each investment option the team sought a case example upon which to base this assessment. For each case study the analysis was captured and is summarised against the seven assessment criteria. A summary (Table 1) below synthesises those findings. Table 1. Summary synthesis of ILCF investment options for Niassa, Mozambique. Case Prospects for strengthening locally Anticipated impacts Score typology controlled forestry Options for Securing Enhancing Strengthening Accessing Economic Social Environmental Niassa commercial locally local technology, livelihood livelihood livelihood forest controlled enterprise- markets benefits benefits benefits tenure business oriented and capacity organisation investment on local terms 1. C/TC 19 2. PS TC CSR 12 3. C/CSL 19 4. C/CCo-M 16 5. C/MU 19 6. C/TP 17 7. PS/TP CSR 11 8. C/ChP 20 9. C/CP 16 10. C/AF